Ben McAdoo a key piece in Drake Maye's development

(Mike Giardi)

It's all part of getting the third-overall pick NFL ready, which will be overseen by offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, quarterback coach T.C. McCartney, and the omnipresent McAdoo.

"T.C. is talking to us during the meetings. Coach Van Pelt will chime in when he needs to. Coach (McAdoo) is awesome. All three of them know a lot of football," Maye told us when we last spoke during rookie mini-camp.

"Ben has tremendous experience," said head coach Jerod Mayo that same day. "He has coached every position on the offensive side of the ball, so he was one of those catch-all players, just in case, as we started to build out the coaching staff. He has a great history, great background."

The "great history" is a bit of revisionist history from Mayo, at least when looking at the big picture. McAdoo's February hiring didn't go over all that well for the casual fan. Why would it?

A quick Google search of McAdoo paints a less-than-flattering picture of one of the newest Patriots' assistant coaches. 

Fans of the New York Giants and the media covering them ripped him from pillar to post for his decision to start Geno Smith over two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback Eli Manning before a week 13 game against the Raiders. That would be the last time McAdoo could call himself a head coach. He was fired the following week with a 2-10 record — the Giants' first in-season firing since Bill Arnsparger in 1976. 

The narrative took a nasty turn, with McAdoo acting as the fall guy for a decision absolutely approved by ownership and the general manager, Jerry Reese. 

But a deeper dive into McAdoo's performance post-New York, especially his one-year stint as the offensive coordinator in Carolina, should give you confidence that while he may not have been ready to be the King of the Big Apple, he is more than capable of helping build up Maye and this offense post-Belichick.

After the firing of the micromanaging Matt Rhule in 2022 (Carolina was 1-5 at the time), the Panthers went 6-5 down the stretch under interim boss Steve Wilks, missing the playoffs by a game. Their points per game jumped from 17.1 to 22.2, and like Van Pelt this year in Cleveland, McAdoo had to get multiple signal callers ready to start (Baker Mayfield, Sam Darnold, and P.J. Walker).

Darnold, in particular, flourished late under McAdoo's watch, throwing for 225, 250, and 341 yards in three straight starts in late December and January. After taking over in week 12, Darnold's QB rating of 105.4 was third-best in the league, trailing only Jared Goff and Brock Purdy. He also went four weeks without a turnover, a career-high, ranked seventh in EPA (expected points added) per play, and fourth in CPOE (completion percentage over expected). Damn good, especially when you consider that aside from D.J. Moore, the '22 Panthers receivers and tight ends gave the Pats a run for their money in overall suckitude. 

"Sometimes these guys can be put in some tough spots," said McAdoo when talking about quarterbacks (Darnold and former protege Geno Smith) back in December of that year. "And I think as long as they have - inside of them - that they can persevere, have some toughness, and have confidence in themselves, and can keep that confidence in themselves when they're going through those tough times; they always have the talent to come out of it on the back end."

"Coach McAdoo talks about it all the time," said Darnold then. "There's going to be ebbs and flows to games. And when things aren't necessarily going your way, that's the time to reach back and understand and keep taking what they're giving me. Be patient. Because those are the times when you can start forcing the ball down the field. It's important to stick with that mindset."

That's undoubtedly an internal quality that the player must have if they want to succeed at this level, but how the Pats support Maye and shepherd him through those valleys will be critical. As someone who knows nadirs as well - and has studied why those failures happened - McAdoo's experience could prove valuable for the 21-year-old.